In the wake of the iPad, major companies are scrambling to get their own piece of the touch screen mania. Tech companies have gotten the hint, and now all want their own iPads. At this rate, this time next year, it’ll be hard to walk through an office place without tripping over a tablet. Here are some of the most interesting, though still hypothetical, competitors looking to get into the market.

BlackBerry Tablet

RIM’s jumbo-size BlackBerry has been rumored for months. The latest information from Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, says that it will have a 7-inch touchscreen, dual cameras (one for video chat), Flash support, a 3G network, and a 1GHz processor powered by Marvell. RIM has yet to comment.

It’s still under question whether the device will be a companion to the standard BlackBerry, or a stand-alone tablet like the iPad. Older reports implied the former while the newest gossip makes it sound like an independent device. Rumors also tell me that the device is slated for release by the end of the year, but perhaps we should just wait until, well, RIM decides to make a comment.

Microsoft Tablet(s?)

At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer dropped some hints about company plans for the tablet industry. On upcoming Microsoft tablets for this year, he says, “They’ll come with keyboards, they’ll come without keyboards – there’ll be many devices. But they will run Windows 7, they will run Office, they will accept ink- as well as touch-based input. We are hardcore about this.”

Something about this seems misguided. Maybe it’s because the answer to winning the tablet market isn’t to flood it with a host of slightly differing devices, but to provide the best user interface. Consumer preference has shown that the Windows 7 OS loses when it comes to mobile devices.

Or maybe it’s the fact that this announcement came after an a capella rendition of “I’ve Gotta Feeling,” with modified lyrics such as “Go out and smash it… with Microsoft!” Thank you for remaining hip, Microsoft.

Samsung Galaxy Tape

Information on the Samsung’s tablet champion was leaked last month. Given the name “Galaxy Tape,” and the fact that the information came from a South Korean source from a Vietnamese website, I’ll hazard that something was lost in translation.

Nonetheless, the internet tells me that the tablet has a 7-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display, and that it too will run on Android 2.2 (“FroYo”). Other hardware specs include a 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A8 based processor, 16GB of inbuilt storage, a 400mAh battery, all at 13 ounces. The release is rumored to be sometime this September.

Cisco Cius

Recently, Cisco announced the upcoming release of the Cius, a 7-inch Android-based tablet. The business-oriented tablet will come bundled with Cisco technology, like Cisco Telepresence, Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, WebEx, and instant messaging. The tablet is meant for business collaboration and videoconferencing. It will have two cameras, front-facing and rear-facing, a removable, rechargeable battery, a multi-touchscreen, and 720p HD quality video recording. All at a slim 1.15 lbs. No reports have yet been made on the device’s release date.

Google Tablet

Google will be working with Verizon on its own tablet. About as little information as possible has been leaked about it, except that it will run on Android. This may pose the greatest threat to the iPad if Google can get out of the starting blocks quick enough. The Android OS has already proven itself, and Google is about as worrisome as a company can be for Apple.

Now that the iPad has been established as a necessary device for businesses, many users take it on their business trips. The iPad is ideal for travel because users can access the internet from any place with a 3G network. Wifi is not necessary to access the internet, making the iPad extremely convenient. It’s large and easy-to-use interface make the iPad preferable to the smartphone for travel.

So, now that you have an iPad and want to use it for your business trips- what are the essential apps? Here are some great travel applications that business users should definitely upload to their iPad.

1. Truphone (FREE)

Take advantage of the iPad’s high quality speakers and mic with Truphone. Truphone lets you call people locally or abroad at a very low cost. All calls are free to other Truphone, Skype, or Google Talk users, on the 3G and WiFi network. You can store contacts on the iPad application so you never have to look up numbers elsewhere.

Users can even send SMS text messages or Instant Messages (Ims) with Truphone, Facebook, Skype, AIM, GoogleTalk, or MSN users. There is a free voicemail feature so callers can leave you voice messages on your iPad.

This iPad application could not get any better. You can communicate for free if you are abroad (or at a low cost if the person you are calling does not have one of the applications specified above). Stay in contact with family, friends, or coworkers while you are away on your business trip. There is no catch or contract if you upload Truphone.

Truphone for iPad Interface

2. BizXpense Tracker ($5.99)

This expense tracking and reporting iPad application is very useful for those who go on business trips. Use the BizXpense Tracker for iPad to record all expenses so your company can reimburse you. Users can customize categories so they can easily track personal and business expenses separately. Expenses can even be filed by trips, by date, by client, or by payment type. After the trips, users can mark each category “reimbursed” or “submitted”.

The BizXpense Tracker for iPad supports all currencies and automatically converts them to the appropriate currency. Users can even take pictures of their receipts with their iPad and upload them to the application.

Your data is always backed up. Users can export the data from their iPad onto their Mac or PC easily, with a Wifi connection. This iPad application is very useful for business travelers who have their expenses paid by their company. Don’t risk losing a receipt or forgetting a charge and get the BixXpense Tracker for iPad instead.

BizXpense Tracker for iPad interface

3. Converter Plus ($1.99)

This all-in-one converter performs a variety of tasks, primarily currency conversions. For business travelers who go abroad, this feature can be very useful. In addition to currency conversion, the Converter Plus for iPad can convert temperature, calculate tips, mortgages, and even loans. Of course, it also has basic calculating abilities as well.

This iPad app is completely customizable. If one feature is deemed unnecessary, it can be deleted. The Converter Plus also has a feature section with dozens of conversion options, which you can choose to put on the main page of the application.

The conversion rates are continuously updated when you open the application. For 2 dollars, this iPad application is well worth the purchase. It will make your trips easier and trouble-free.

Converter Plus for iPad interface

4. Kayak Flight (FREE)

Kayak.com has built its reputation as the ultimate go-to airline flight website, as it searches several different airline and competing low-cost websites. It is useful for looking up flights and comparing prices between airlines. Kayak came up with their own iPad app. The best part is it’s free!

This iPad application is useful if you need to look up a flight, either in advance or last minute. Perhaps your business trip ran longer than expected and you need to find a new flight to take home. Avoid calling the airlines or trying to find an internet cafe to access flight information- Kayak for iPad will solve all of those problems for you. Kayak has features where you can specify how much money you want to spend, whether you want direct or indirect flights, and what time of day you want to leave.

Kayak for iPad even helps you rent cars and book hotels. It is an all-in-one travel iPad application.

Kayak.com for iPad interface

5. TravelTracker Pro ($8.99)

While the $8.99 might seem daunting, this iPad application is well worth it because of its extensive feature set. Users can enter all of their itinerary information into this iPad application so that they can track and organize their upcoming flights. If you enter the date and flight number, TravelTrackerPro will do the rest for you. It will present departure and arrival times, your departure gate, baggage claim information, and even seating charts.

TravelTracker Pro tracks your flights so you know if you it is running late or early. This travel iPad app also tracks your expenses, weather forecasts, and has a section for a packing lists so you don’t forget anything. This complex iPad app even tracks your frequent flyer information, so you can access the number of miles that you have acquired at any time.

If the $8.99 seems like too much, there is a free version of this iPad app. The free version does not have flight status updates, expense tracking, packing list, and the other advanced features that come with the TravelTracker Pro iPad app. The extra dollars are worth it in the end.

TravelTracker Pro for iPad Interface

There are a lot of iPad business applications out there, but the five listed above are very useful for business travel.  Especially the free iPad applications- how can you say no? Read more details about the iPad apps listed above at the iTunes iPad App store.

As a monstrous software competitor of the old guard, Microsoft single greatest threat would appear to be cloud computing. Software that comes to you as an online service may make Microsoft’s Windows and Office Suite seem obsolete.

Yet, Microsoft has clearly been preparing for the day that cloud computing becomes the norm. And there isn’t much reason why Microsoft can’t be a major player in the cloud industry. Cloud computing requires massive data structure, intelligent computer engineering, and marketing resources, all of which Microsoft excels at.

At the Cowen & Co. Technology Conference, Doug Hauger, General Manager at Microsoft, discussed the company’s strategy and various measures taken with each product line to move forward in cloud computing:

• Microsoft’s Office suite is still kicking and screaming against Google’s industry-invading productivity applications. Microsoft offers a free version of Office online and has made paid versions more web-compatible.
• Collaboration programs like Microsoft Sharepoint and Live Meeting can be externally hosted. Microsoft is trying to attract customers from the collaboration software industry, brushing up against the likes of Cisco and IBM
• The Microsoft Dynamics product line has also moved online; the business solutions are offered as on-demand and hosted by Microsoft partners. This puts the company in contention with Oracle and Salesforce.com, who have their own cloud-based business applications.
• Above all, Microsoft’s cloud strategy depends on Azure, a platform that allows developers to collaborate on application building, developing, and deployment.

Microsoft’s cloud computing forays, besides the free version of Office, may take bites out of the competition’s product sales. In particular, Azure should have high developer acclaim. Whether or not Microsoft is entirely successful, the company is here to stay for a long while. The IT giant won’t be toppled so easily, and may even continue to dominate the changing markets for years to come.

When Microsoft released Windows 2000, it was readily taken up by the business world, but mostly ignored by consumers. The alternatives geared toward the typical users were Windows 95, 98, and the unfortunately flawed Millennium. Now, it is rumored that Windows 8 will be our decade’s model of the business-focused operating system.

This Windows release is still a few years away, but some are already speculating based on the little information that’s been announced. A blog post at Ma-Config, a French technology news site, hints at Windows 8’s potential business-friendly features:

Virtual machines (VMs) become key platform components for data centers and Microsoft products such as Win8, System Center, and Azure. On the website of Microsoft Research, we learn that virtualization should be one of the key components of Windows 8. It seems to confirm that Bernard Ourghanlian, technical and security director at Microsoft France, interviewed on the site itrmanager in March 2009. Version 3 Hyper-V is now scheduled run on workstations and Windows 8 only.

This statement raises interesting questions on the potential of Windows 8. Virtualization could change the viability of certain options on the Windows OS.

For one, applications would be isolated and no longer so entwined with the operating system. This could make for a lightweight and high-performance PC since the OS would be local and other applications would be delivered virtually. The security of virtual machines is still debatable, yet Ma-Config’s news post argues that the hypervisor would be secure from attacks when paired with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip.

Virtualization would simplify Windows version upgrades or changes because there is no worry over compatibility. Users could even run other operating systems, such as Linux or Mac OS X alongside Windows 8.

The lighter local load means that the computer startup time will be much shorter. Business end users can have their virtual machines updated while the hardware is turned off, which can save work time. Virtualization would also allow the Windows users to try out applications without having to install and uninstall them.

Also, virtualization may be Windows’s way of making a move in cloud computing. Virtualization could serve as a private cloud data center, while Microsoft’s Azure platform can host sophisticated infrastructures that would be burdensome and expensive to deploy. It could be the end of Windows on-premise servers.

The new focus of virtualization appears to be a development made with businesses in mind. Because of Window’s pervasiveness in the workplace, this may start a revolution of businesses turning to virtualization and cloud computing. Those platforms may become as commonplace as the on-premise business model that’s been here for years.

But take this with a grain of salt. These are speculations made on speculations. Windows 8 is years from release, and Microsoft is notorious for flipping its projects upside down midway through development. Knowing the internet, more vaguely accurate details are sure to follow.

MicroStrategy announced the general availability of MicroStrategy Mobile, a platform that easily extends business intelligence applications to the iPhone and iPad.

Businesses are recognizing the value of empowering their executives, workforce, suppliers, and business partners with actionable information at all times, not just while they are at their desktop computers. The ability to access business information 24/7 shortens decision-making time, streamlines business processes, enhances collaboration, and makes every location an office. Powerful app-phones and tablets that integrate sensor technologies, such as GPS, cameras, and multi-touch screens, make it even easier to query vast volumes of data quickly and precisely.

Mobile business intelligence is poised to expand the business intelligence market significantly, with more people accessing more data from their mobile devices. MicroStrategy Mobile extends business intelligence to mobile devices quickly and easily, and enhances the business intelligence user experience by leveraging the native capabilities of the iPhone and iPad.

Here are examples of how the Microstrategy iPad/iPhone app will benefit users:

Integrated Mapping: MicroStrategy Mobile offers out-of-the-box integration with Google maps for easy visualization of geospatial data and rapid location identification.

Multi-touch: MicroStrategy Mobile leverages the new Apple multi-touch gestures, such as swipe, tap, flick, and rotate, to ease data navigation for users.

BI-specific Gestures: MicroStrategy Mobile includes specialized data gestures such as drilling and paging that extend native iPhone functionality to enhance data exploration.
App Integration: App functionality can be extended by directly integrating with other on-device apps, including e-mail, browser, and text messaging; third-party apps such as social networks or payment solutions; and existing enterprise systems or data sources.

Sensor-based Query: MicroStrategy Mobile is integrated with on-device sensors, such as the GPS receiver, accelerometer, and bar code reader, to accelerate query speed and relevance. For example, since the device already knows the user’s location, there is no need to manually enter the address.

Mobile Information Capture: Users can quickly capture information with on-device sensors, such as a camera or bar code reader, reducing the need for manual data entry.

MicroStrategy Mobile inherits the core strengths of the MicroStrategy 9 platform to provide an enterprise-grade foundation for mobile applications. MicroStrategy Mobile is designed to provide the high performance expected on mobile devices. Specifically, MicroStrategy Mobile uses multi-level caching, an in-memory data structure, and a high efficiency network interchange to provide the high performance required to make mobile business intelligence apps most useful. In addition, the code that resides on the iPhone and iPad is written in pure Objective-C to provide fast execution performance and natural graphical animations.

Security is one of the highest concerns of enterprises using mobile devices. MicroStrategy Mobile is designed to ensure the privacy and security of data, even when the devices leave the four walls of the enterprise. Device data wiping automatically wipes all of the BI application’s data stored on the device every time the app is closed or the device is locked or powered off. Transmission encryption ensures that data in flight is fully protected from eavesdropping, and data encryption ensures that the data resident on the server can be encrypted to prevent penetration attacks for mobile BI apps.

MicroStrategy Mobile is designed specifically for high efficiency operation in environments of tens of thousands of users. MicroStrategy’s powerful administrative tools make it easy for a small number of IT administrators to manage dozens of BI apps and many thousands of users from a central admin console. MicroStrategy’s high performance architecture can support large user populations with just a few server CPUs.

MicroStrategy Mobile can transform the way our customers conduct their business, it will allow insight to be injected into every conversation and decision.

SugarCRM is a Web-based CRM tool that provides pretty much all the functionality any small business will need.

Employees only need a recent Web browser to access and work with SugarCRM. This makes life a lot easier, as SugarCRM management is centralized, and you don’t need to worry about upgrading or maintaining each employee’s computer. Note that SugarCRM comes in both a community edition and paid editions that have per-seat support fees.

SugarCRM isn’t too difficult to set up, and it’s multi-platform so you don’t have to switch OSes to take advantage of the tool. You’ll find several options to test and install SugarCRM. The most basic is the Community Edition, which provides just the source and requires you to have a server running MySQL, PHP and Apache (or another suitable Web server).

SugarCRM does a lot out of the box, but it can do a great deal more with add-on modules from SugarForge.

SugarForge is a community hub for development of SugarCRM and related software. It has hundreds of projects for extending SugarCRM, adding language support and themes, or for providing connectors from external applications to Sugar.

For instance, you’ll find backup and recovery tools, add-ons to connect Thunderbird to SugarCRM, connectors to Drupal, Domino/Notes, and many others. Though SugarCRM is licensed under an open source license, the add-ons you find on SugarForge may be available only under a proprietary license.

SugarCRM 6.0 is on its way soon, and should be released by mid-July. This release will include a redesigned interface and better support for mobile devices like the iPad. If you haven’t started working with SugarCRM yet, you might want to wait just a short while before deploying it.

Sonoma Partners is supplying a social networking solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The inventive application, dubbed “Vibe,” combines the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the popularity of social networking. Originally in use as an internal tool, Sonoma Partners now provides the application at no cost to its customers.
From learning about sales leads to staying up to date on a project’s status “Vibe” merges the best of social media with internal project management. Acting as part Twitter, part Facebook, “Vibe” cultivates communities among Microsoft Dynamics CRM users and invites them to subscribe to individual and group feeds. Accessing relevant data in a familiar format encourages users to increase their CRM usage and speeds work flow.
Microsoft recently deployed the “Vibe” solution in its Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online division.

Executives can use “Vibe” to keep track of milestones in Microsoft Dynamics CRM—such as new orders, hot opportunities, marketing campaigns or even monthly revenue calculations—without logging in to the software. Geographically-dispersed sales teams can stay up to speed on opportunities, quotes and orders by following a sales feed driven by Microsoft Dynamics CRM data.

This pioneering application is just one of many specialty offerings Sonoma Partners brings to its customers. As one of the leading Microsoft Dynamics CRM resellers, the company’s custom offerings drive customers to seek Sonoma Partners’ expertise. Sonoma Partners provides custom solutions for a variety of customers in many industries including Choice Hotel Group and Jones Lang LaSalle.

As anyone following the hype could have predicted, the iPhone 4 has sold excessively well. The masses of Apple fanboys gobbled up more than 1.7 million units of the Apple product within three days of its release on June 24^th. Yet, once the rosy giddiness from owning the latest Apple fad lifted, some consumers noticed something: there are a bunch of glitches with this thing.

For one, the infamous antenna issue is inexcusable. As a clear hardware problem, Apple representatives have essentially told the public, “get used to it.” A software update is now available, but it only makes the iPhone 4 signal meter more accurate with respect to the lower left-hand corner problem. So now you can accurately watch your network signal tank. Customers may also purchase a $30 bumper from Apple so that one’s hand does not touch the bottom left corner, though any iPhone case would also do the trick.

It’s a show of negligence that a hardware problem like this could make it out of product testing. It may be a small issue since having a case is almost compulsory, but it’s troubling that a major mobile device can have such a universal problem.

Network upload speeds have been sluggish in certain areas of the country. Last weekend, upload speeds in many cities like New York, Boston, Seattle, Cleveland, Denver, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Cincinnati, etc., were capped at 100kbps, which is a tenth of expected speeds.

AT&T has since announced that the problem came from a software defect in Alcatel-Lucent equipment. “AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent jointly identified a software defect–triggered under certain conditions–that impacted uplink performance for Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment,” said Jenny Bridges, AT&T spokeswoman. AT&T has made a temporary fix that restores upload data speeds to regular 3G speeds, so maximum speeds will be around 384kbps until the problem can be entirely solved. Bridges also reported that this was affecting less than 2% of AT&T’s wireless customer base.

Granted, Apple can’t really be blamed for this one, but I think this falls under the list of problems occurring with exclusive AT&T coverage.

In certain lighting, the iPhone 4’s camera pictures are coming out yellow. Images taken outdoors or with flash have been fine. However, as reported by Macworld, indoor pictures in low lighting come out with a yellow or green cast. The problem is exclusively with the new iPhone, not the 3G models:

It appears to be a problem with the camera’s auto-white balance.

And some iPhone users are having trouble with the device’s proximity sensor. The sensor, common for mobile touch phones, turns off the touch screen when the phone is brought to one’s ear. In this glitch, people have found the touch screen may turn back on when there’s little movement, or even flicker rapidly. This may be due to the proximity sensor’s new location further up on phone, moved because of the new front-facing camera.

There are also complaints of discolored displays that appear yellow or greenish. Apple has been touting the iPhone’s high resolution Retina display of 326 pixels per inch, which is better resolution than a human retina. That may be harder to appreciate with urine-colored stains on your screen.

Examples of display discolorations

Apple has yet to release public statements for many of these issues.

It seems that proper field testing should have discovered these problems long before release. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of corporate complacency. Regardless of Apple modernity and sleekness, people still want devices that are reliable, that can operate in the real world. Apple still has a responsibility to put out products that are well-designed and well-tested. Unfortunately, many of these bugs may not be fixed until the iPhone 5. Consumers should probably hold off on joining the iPhone 4 craze until Apples answers for these glaring defects.

How would you like to be able to access your office from anywhere? The Citrix Receiver for iPad makes this possible. Do you want to know the best part? It’s free! The Citrix Receiver for iPad app allows users to access all of their corporate desktops and applications from anywhere, with their iPad. Citrix released this innovative application this past April.

With a 3G or WiFi network, users can access all of their important files or applications directly on their iPad. This business tool is on-the-go, and ideal for employees who travel or are frequently at meetings or away from their desks.

The capabilities of this application are extensive. Users can create documents, view their business dashboard, or approve expenses. Users can view or create interactive charts because the iPad supports high-resolution graphics. You can send emails, write documents, or access important files. Almost anything that one could do in a corporate setting, they could do with the Citrix Receiver for iPad. Communication channels are completely secure, so important files and sensitive information are not at risk. With another Citrix app for iPad, Citrix GoToMeeting, users can attend or host meetings online. You will never miss a meeting again because this application is portable and easy-to-use.

The Citrix Receiver for iPad is Compatible with Windows

The Citrix Receiver application is easy to navigate with its simplistic user-interface. It is even compatible with Windows applications and virtual desktops, in addition to all Mac applications. The Citrix Receiver is easy to install and only requires a one-time setup.

The Citrix Receiver is the ultimate application for mobile business. If you do not have an iPad, the Citrix Receiver is compatible with the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows mobile devices. Find out more about the Citrix Receiver on Citrix’s website or the iTunes App Store.

The Apple iPad is rapidly breaking into the corporate workplace as businesses find that the tablet-device is more secure than they expected. Many companies, including SAP, Wells Fargo, and Mercedes-Benz are allowing iPads to be used for business operations.

Generally, businesses spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that the programs and applications that they want to use are safe and secure. Wells Fargo spent two years examining the iPhone before determining that it was okay for their banker employees to use at work. Wells Fargo only took two weeks to clear Apple’s iPad. Wells Fargo is so confident in the strength of the iPad that Amy Johnson, a Vice President at Wells Fargo, said that the iPad could be used to approve multimillion dollar wire transfers with no complications.

Employees at SAP have the same confidence in the iPad. Rob Enslin, the North American President at SAP, said, “It’s allowed me to almost run a paperless office.” Enslin brings his iPad everywhere with him on his business trips, with nothing else but his BlackBerry. Enslin explained that he uses his iPad for anything from accessing business applications to customer information to any other corporate data. Mercedes Benz employees were as impressed with the iPad’s capabilities as Enslin. Employees use the iPad to order cars on-the-spot with customers on the floor. Mercedes Benz employees have already charged $5 million in car payments with the iPad. The company plans on providing iPads for all of their 350 U.S. Dealerships.

Apple’s iPad

Originally, the iPad was advertised as a consumer toy because of its digital books, interactive games, and video and music features. Now, Apple is emphasizing the benefits of using iPads in the workplace because they increase productivity without compromising sensitive information. Workers can use the iPad to check their email, perform finance operations, approve ship orders, and many other things. This on-the-go tablet is easy to bring along because it does not have the weight of the average laptop, but it performs most basic tasks of a laptop computer. Ted Schadler, the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, a market research advising company, said, “This iPad thing has taken the world by storm. It came in as a consumer product and very quickly the people who actually bought them were businesspeople.”

The launch of the iPad was extremely successful, as 3 million of the tablet devices were sold in less than three months after its initial release. In a recent survey by Zogby International, 52% of a random selection of smartphone users said that they would likely use a tablet device, like the iPad, to work.

Many businesses are exploring the possibilities of the iPad in the workplace. Dan Shey, the Practice Director for Enterprise at ABI Research, said, “A lot of businesses right now are in experimentation with these devices.” While many companies are recognizing the potential of the iPad, others may keep their distance as the iPad does not have all of the capabilities of a larger computer. Tablet devices have smaller screens, no keyboard, and they cannot multitask.

The Apple iPad is dominating the market right now, but there are many companies who are planning to release their own tablet devices. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, LG Electronics, and Samsung Electronics all have plans to release a similar device. Cisco announced in late June their plan to release the Cisco Cius, a videoconferencing tablet. Fortunately for Apple, the iPad is the only compatible device with Apple computers, so Apple will have loyalty from all companies who use Mac computers and are interested in tablet devices.

You can read more about the specific details of the iPad on Apple’s website.

To view iPad Business Apps.